Children 
Families 
Weddings
Magnolia Plantation wedding -Whitney and Andy
Posted on June 13, 2014
It’s no secret that I love a rainy wedding day.
Preferable not ALL day, and of course I wouldn’t wish less-than-perfect weather on anyone. But when it does happen, I find the resulting images to be lighthearted, intimate, and romantic.
Whitney and Andy planned their Charleston destination wedding from California, where Andy is in the Air Force.
There’s a certain joyful, calm, festive atmosphere that accompanies most destination weddings, and this one was no different.
No stress, just fun.
Whitney surprised Andy by renting this vintage car (Camaro? I think? Please let me know if you recognize it for sure!) for Andy to show up in and as their getaway car.
I love this shot. Check out the dapper groomsman’s expression.
Apple butter wedding favors. Ask any wedding photographer-we love our wedding swag! Especially at destination weddings, guests tend to leave favors behind, so we’re often offered goodies on the way out. I’ve made shrimp and grits from gift bags of local grits, brought home candy to the kiddos, sipped personalized wine, added to our collection of monogrammed cups and koozies (yes, we really do use them, and remember our favorite moment or image from your wedding every time.) I wasn’t sure what to use the apple butter for at first, but one day I stirred it into an apple crisp I was throwing together. Delicious!
I’m not sure how safe this was, but it was one of my all-time favorite shots of last year. I love the Mad Men vibe.
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Ella Grace’s classic Charleston 10 year portraits
Posted on May 20, 2014
Ella Grace’s family has a history of having professional portraits made when a child turns 10. She is, I believe, the 3rd or 4th generation on her mother’s side to follow this lovely tradition.
I think it’s such a neat idea. I’ve written before about how the years between early teenhood and high school graduation tend to not be as well documented as the younger, chubbier, dimplier years. I love the idea of mindfully commemorating and celebrating a decade of laughter, running, playing-being *them*.
At ten, the jawline is starting to cast shadows, the elbows and anklebones are etched, the eyes are rolling, and the limbs attenuate. But the smiles are still those of our babies.
We started our Charleston portrait session near the Doc Street Theater, and worked our way down to the Waterfront Park.
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The Chandlers-Charleston Family portraits
Posted on May 8, 2014
This family photo session reminded me of a moment from my own parenting history.
When my middle daughter was two months old, I gently placed her into my sweet two year old son’s lap and snapped a few images of them together. When I announced, “We’re done!” my son nodded with satisfaction, and tumbled the baby onto the grass. There was no malice involved. He was just a roughshod two year old boy who’d been told he didn’t have to hold something anymore.
Jane didn’t even cry, she just lay there, face smushed on the lawn, making this hilarious, confused “Meeeh. Meeehhhhhh” sound as I quickly scooped her up.
The classic posed images are lovely heirlooms, but the images that encapsulate the heartwarming chaos of this era in the Chandler’s life, when the older children are full of love and enthusiasm but age-appropriately short on self-control, are the ones that crack me up. Finger to the eyeball! Yank your brother’s ear! Cautionary parental hands entering the frame!
Love it all. Look at all these beautiful babies. Blessed.
The Chandlers’ home in Bell Hall Plantation is stunning. I love that it’s a gorgeous design that still looks and feels homey, and reflects the reality that toddlers live there. (See the crayon on the wall?)
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Charleston beach portraits : Adams family
Posted on April 23, 2014
Proud grandparents are the best! I photographed Carolyn’s family when her sons, daughter in law, and granddaughter were in town to visit. It was important for her to have time with her first grandchild documented. I love the colors this family wore. Add green grass, a lovely sunset, and a beach ball, and we had the perfect photo session.
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Charleston Loves a Bride
Posted on March 24, 2014
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The King Family
Posted on March 20, 2014
I met up with the King crew over the holidays so that they could get a Charleston family portrait while everyone was in town.
We’d put a lot of thought into this session. Wardrobe opinions, plans to change to a beach location after we took some photos downtown, etc.
Approximately 11 minutes into our session, the sky opened up. Linda, who’s a television producer and knows about getting things done, said “sometimes you just need to punt.”
We didn’t get the golden beach frolic-y light we originally wanted, but we got to watch model trains go around a mountain. And hey-that’s a win!
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Alex and Michael at the Creek Club, I’on
Posted on March 11, 2014
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Alex and Michael are such a lovely couple. They moved to Australia (his homeland) just after the wedding.
Recently I delivered their wedding album to Alex’s parents’ house in Mount Pleasant, so that they could take take it along when they flew over to see the newlyweds.
As we were flipping through the pages, Alex’s Mom referred to them as “the kids.” I remember her saying the same thing at the wedding. I found it to be ridiculously charming. Even grown and married, Alex will always be their baby girl, and her husband is now one of their honorary “kids” too.
I must be doing something right, because I get to meet the best families.
A guest spotted a rainbow outside after the first dances
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Southern Charm
Posted on March 5, 2014
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In case you haven’t heard, Bravo’s Southern Charm premiered Monday. The whole city of Charleston has been at pre-emptive Chicken Little emotional Defcon 2 since about mid-January, when the pre-press for the series kicked into high gear.
Y’all. People are MAD about this show.
I watched. I admit it. I considered pretending it wasn’t happening, but in the end, I did it for the curiosity. I did it for the scenery.
Mostly though I did it for the Twitterfest. (Check out #charmageddon for local commentary on the show. Pretty funny last night. I hope by next week the wit will be out in full force.)
Not loving the production side. I don’t know what budget they were working with, and I certainly don’t expect it to look like House of Cards, but Charleston has beautiful, soft afternoon light, and wonderful, warm, pastel colors, and to be honest, the city is much lovelier than this harshly lit depiction.
And what’s with the music? I can see a modern soundtrack working, or if they insist on kicking it old school, maybe a lazier, hazier Porgy and Bess sort of vibe. The brassy, frenetic theme tunes sound goofy to me.
But the cast? They’re not THAT bad!
A lot of the people I see saying especially mean things on social media refuse to watch the show so I’m not sure where they’re getting their information. I get why a lot of people despise “reality” tv in general. And also understand that some folks are irritated with the rest of the country getting the wrong impression. We could be living somewhere saying, “Have at it, network TV. You can’t make this dump look any worse.” No, it’s magical here, and we know it and try to preserve it. Anything that threatens the long-woven thread of local pride will be met with hostility. I can appreciate the NIMBY solidarity. But I don’t think the show is the epic tragedy it’s being made out to be.
Only one episode in, but I am loving the girls. Cameran and Jenna are beautiful, seem sweet, goofy, fun, independent, and quirkily awesome.
The jury’s still out in terms of my opinion of all the guys-by design, I assume. But the big buzz is that no one in Charleston behaves like they do. (“That’s not how we act like down here.”)
I disagree. When I was single and out and about, I knew guys-many guys- who acted, dressed and spoke very much like each of these cast members. Sure, they’re not representative of all of Charleston, but no one said they were. They’re representative of a specific type of Charleston resident, and pretty spot-on, I’d say. The other side of that, though, is that financially privileged Charlestonians (not to be confused with “old Charleston” people-the show blurs that important distinction) also tend to be quite philanthropic, involved in the arts, their church, etc. And can often be great conversationalists (an art I hope isn’t dying with the next generations and their iphones.) It remains to be seen whether or not any of the guys’ redeeming qualities-assuming some were captured during filming-will be edited in or if Bravo will go strictly for the shock value jugular.
I appreciate that the cast and supporting cast varies in age and appearance. They’re not all generically spray tanned and spackled. In that typical seeking-out-the-best-in-everyone photographer fashion, I think they’re all quite interestingly lovely.
That’s not to say that there aren’t thumps on the head to be dished out.
(I don’t need to catalog the EWWW moments. You know who you are.)
But it’s not like these people are chucking their mint julep cups at snuzzly newborn puppies. They’re just having fun, navigating their career, raking in some dough, getting a little tipsy, and letting their preppily-dressed eccentric freak flags fly.
And if that isn’t a real side of downtown Charleston, then I don’t know what is.
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This guy
Posted on February 20, 2014
C.R. turned 11 yesterday. He’s a football-loving, Minecrafting, guitar-strumming, didgeridoo-learning, reading-all-the-time all American boy.
(Did I mention the Minecrafting? Lots of Minecraft.)
And last week he received an award for a 100% on his South Carolina PASS standardized test writing section. I’m proud of that! A perfect score on a written essay is pretty awesome.
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Rubber band earrings
Posted on February 10, 2014
“Mommy, do you like my earrings?”
“I do.”
It’s dull and brown this time of year. But for about 10 minutes each evening, the front yard gets wonderful golden sun.
It’s a little too cold to be playing with the hose. But we like to live dangerously.
Winter rainbow!
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Beautiful session, Sally! So many natural moments, I really love the last shot.